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INDIAN MOUND
Moundsville, WV

The name 'Moundsville' represents the many Indian mounds that once occupied this area of the Ohio Valley. The Grave Creek Mound has been preserved and is located within this West Virginia town's city limits, across the street from its eerie old, stark stone neighbor, the West Virginia Pen.
     
This Indian burial mound was constructed around 200 B.C. The mound stands 69-feet tall and has a base diameter of 295-feet. The original mound was also encircled by a moat 5-feet deep, and 40-feet wide. Grave Creek Mound construction required over 60,000 tons of earth. Since the workers didn't use horses or the wheel, that meant a lot of baskets of dirt!

The mound-building Adena People lived in West Virginia from approximately 1,000 B.C. to 1 A.D.  Around 500 B.C., the Adena culture in the Ohio Valley slowly gave way to the Hopewell culture.
  

  
GRAVE CREEK MOUND

This world-famous burial mound was
built by the Adena people sometime
before the Christian Era. The mound
was originally 69 feet high, 295 feet
in diameter, and was encircled by a
moat. There were many mounds in the
area ~ hence the city's name: Mounds-
ville. In 1838, the Grave Creek Mound
was tunnelled into and two log tombs
with several burials and grave offer-
ings were found.
  
West Virginia Historic Commission, 1963
  

Delf Norona Museum &
Grave Creek Mound
Archaeology Complex

Grave Creek Mound

First museum at the mound's base

Looking up the mound

Stone steps lead visitors (with good wind) to the top

  
View from the top of the 2,000 year old Indian mound...
  

Stone directional marker on top

Marshall County Court House

1942 inscription

Roof of the museum built in 1915

Reconstructed stone steps

The old West Virginia Penitentiary
is right across the street

WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY
Established 1866. A prison for men and women convicted of felonies until prison for women was established at Pence Springs, 1947. Capital criminals were hanged here, 1889-1950. Electric chair used until death penalty was abolished, 1965.

Tours are available of the
former penitentiary

  
Brig Niagara

First Oil Well

Gobbler's Knob

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